Given a bit of a superstitious streak in Thailand, it’s no wonder that Thai political parties might have been hoping for “lucky” numbers in a draw last week to determine their order on the Feb. 2 election ballot. Read More »

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—Despite scoring strong gains in Sunday’s elections, Cambodia’s opposition has rejected the results over what it calls “serious irregularities” in the vote won by longtime Prime Minister Hun Sen and is seeking international support for a probe.

EPA

At a Monday news briefing, leaders of the Cambodia National Rescue Party called on the country’s election commission to review claims of widespread fraud in an unusually competitive poll, which produced a dramatic swing in support from Mr. Hun Sen but still left his Cambodian People’s Party firmly in power.

“We don’t accept the election results as proclaimed by [Cambodia’s election commission] or by other parties, because there are too many irregularities with far-reaching implications that have distorted the will of the people,” CNRP leader Sam Rainsy, 64, told reporters. Read More »

Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has found something new to fight over with the country’s government: U.S. President Barack Obama’s message of congratulations to Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Mr. Obama called Mr. Najib on May 13 after his win in Malaysia’s parliamentary elections. Mr. Najib’s National Front coalition won 60% of the seats in the national parliament, although Mr. Anwar’s opposition alliance secured 51% of the popular vote on May 5 and is claiming that vote fraud tipped the balance in the government’s favor. Read More »

In the Philippines, a political family that runs together, wins big together.

Associated Press

The family of the late President Ferdinand Marcos continued to dominate politics in his home province of Ilocos Norte. His 83-year-old widow Imelda won another term as congresswoman by a landslide and his eldest daughter, Imee, won after running unopposed as governor of the province some 480 kilometers north of Manila. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was elected senator in 2010 and won’t be up for re-election until 2016. Before he was elected as senator, he served as congressman and governor of Ilocos Norte, positions now held by his mother and sister, respectively. Read More »

Filipino lay leaders endorsed 10 senatorial candidates who opposed a controversial bill giving free contraceptives to the poor, hoping to sway today’s elections in which half of the 24 members of the Senate faced voters.

Bert Alba, a lay leader and convener of Catholic Vote Now, which has endorse 10 senatorial candidates they label “pro-life,” said they used guidelines by bishops to arrive at their endorsements.

“The role of the Church hierarchy is to guide and not to dictate,” Mr. Alba said. Read More »

Jejomar Binay, a surprise winner of the Philippines vice presidency in 2010, hasn’t kept his plans to run for president in 2016 a secret and many view his active participation in this year’s campaign as preparation for that run.

Josephine Cuneta/The Wall Street Journal

“Unlike others, I’m no hypocrite,” Mr. Binay told ANC television station after casting his vote in the midterm elections Monday. “I will run in 2016. But after the 2013 elections, I will have to continue with my duty as vice president, to help implement President (Benigno) Aquino’s (III) policies,” he added.

Although they campaigned for opposing coalitions–Mr. Aquino endorsed the Liberal Party-led group and Mr. Binay the United Nationalists Alliance– and were elected from different parties in 2010, the two leaders have close personal links that dates back to the time Mr. Binay was a loyal supporter of the Mr. Aquino’s mother, the late President Corazon Aquino.

When Malaysians go to vote on May 5, some citizen activists will be on vigil at polling stations to try to ensure that the 13th general elections are free and fair.

EPA

The stakes are high for both the National Front coalition, which has ruled Malaysia since it gained independence from Britain in 1957, and a resurgent opposition, which aims to better its 2008 record electoral gains, when it denied the ruling coalition a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Activists, who have in past clashed with police when demanding sweeping electoral reforms, complain that the government isn’t making changes quickly enough to ensure the integrity of the election. Read More »

A spat over which logos can be used on the ballot sheets in next month’s Malaysian elections is complicating the outlook for the hotly anticipated polls.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The Democratic Action Party, one of three parties in opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s People’s Alliance, said on Friday it will take the potentially confusing step of using the logos of its allies, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party and the People’s Justice Party in addition to its own rocket symbol.

In peninsular Malaysia, the DAP will use the moon on green background logo of the Islamic party, widely known as PAS, while it will use the People’s Justice Party’s blue-and-white eye symbol in Sarawak and Sabah states on the island of Borneo. Read More »

About Indonesia Real Time

Indonesia Real Time provides analysis and insight into the region, which includes Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei. Contact the editors at SEAsia@wsj.com.

E-commerce sites and mobile apps are drawing on data they’ve collected from users to better understand how and when people shop during the Islamic holy month. Here’s a look at some of what they’ve discovered.

All that burning rubbish in Indonesia may be taking its toll, with nearly a quarter of people surveyed in a recent poll saying waste management was the most prominent environmental issue in the country.